Maitland's After Dark - Winter Solstice will be a family friendly night activation of the city streets with live entertainment, including fire performers, and food stalls, culminating in a fireworks display on Saturday, June 22.

Maitland City Council is planning the event which will be held between 5pm and 9pm.

To safely facilitate this event Council's Place Activation Team proposes to temporarily close The Levee, High Street from Bourke Street to Elgin Street, Dransfield Lane and part of Bulwer Street Maitland. Parking will be available in nearby carparks.

The Place Activation Team expects the event to attract between 4000 and 5000 people.

Winter Solstice co-incides with the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice (or hibernal solstice), also known as midwinter, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun.

It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere.

For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky.

At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice.

Its opposite is the summer solstice. The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter.

In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice.

The winter solstice is a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals.